Hello! Hello! Hello!
I'm so excited to see you again!
It's another Heartfelt Creations Wednesday, and you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for awhile now! I've been very busy writing all of the new collections coming your way in the next few months!
Can you believe that we are headed into February shortly?
I'm not sure where the time goes!
Well, February means Valentine's Day...and believe it or not I have not had the chance to work with the Heartfelt Love Collection yet, so I gathered it all together on my craft room table and started searching YouTube!
You see, I have a pen pal and wanted to send her something lovely for Valentine's Day!
She just sent me a wonderful flip booklet and I wanted to try to find something a little different instead of sending the same idea back...well, thank you YouTube...I discovered the "Stuffed Envelope"!
I decided that I was going to do a bit of a different twist on it and thought the Flip Fold Card Bases could make the perfect base for this little labour of love!
Before we go any further, allow me to share the finished project, and we'll take it all from there!
Because this creation won't be showcased on the Heartfelt Creation blog (I was too slow to get it finished and submitted in time! LOL), I won't include the full instructions at the end as I usually do, but will rather walk you through step by step, giving you instructions and links as we go!!
Here's how the whole stuffed envelope came together...
Doesn't that look like so much fun to make, give and to receive!
I sure hope my pen pal will enjoy her special goodies!
Let's take a look at how it all starts out...the card base...transformed...
All of the beautiful patterned paper has been taken from the Heartfelt Love Collection...including the paper I've used to create that gorgeous rosette on the bottom of the card base.
Believe it or not, this all begins with one of the white fold out card bases...it's the 5"x7" size and is the one that is in the tall standing position. You can find those card bases here.
I've used the coordinating fold out card border dies to create the pieces that get affixed to the base, as well as the eyelet style accent borders. You can find all of those dies here and here!
Once I added all of the decorative papers to the base, I added the lacy accents. I die cut them from white card stock and then used a sponge and dries clear glue to glitter them up with a transparent glitter. Once you have that all assembled, you can begin adhering your fold outs to make the pockets. You just follow the natural fold outs in the cards and glue down the sides and bottoms where you want your pockets created. I first of all used just Scor Tape, but later on when stuffing the envelope I could see that it would not hold together permanently, so went back in with some strong glue as well. So, my suggestion would be to use both right off the hop while assembling!
I finished off several areas using some heart themed and hello sentiment washi tape to give the creation an extra does of shimmer and color!
Then I set about to creating that large rosette for the front of the envelope.
Here's a closer peek at it...
Now, handmade rosettes are nothing new in the craft world...but can you believe that I had never taken the time to make one myself? LOL
It's super easy...here's the link on YouTube I used follow along to get the job done!
I thought the doily would be the perfect backing for a Valentine's Day rosette, and I cut the heart shape using silver glitter paper and the Eyelet Hearts Die from the Heartfelt Love Collection!
The chipboard Hello is an embellishment that has been in my stash for quite some time and I thought it would be perfect to send greetings to a new pen pal!
Next off, we have to fill the envelope, right?
That's the fun part!
I wanted to do a lot of the embellishing myself and dug into my stash to see what I had that I could work with!
First off I decided to make a tag!
Here's how it came out...
I will be the first one to admit that I don't make many tags....I actually find them really hard!
I don't know if it's the small surface area or what?!?!
But, I will say that I do like how this one turned out!
I cut two tag bases using my Tim Holtz tag set.
For the first layer of the tag base, I actually cut two of them so I
could layer them together to create a stronger tag! I'm thinking I will
write a Bible Verse on the back of the tag for my pen pal so she can
use this in her war binder and I wanted it to be able to withstand some wear!
I wanted to be able to layer one on top of the other, so I cut the next size tag in the set to do so.
I cut tails into the second one as you will see above. (Shhhh...they're not quite even! I think my head is on crooked!!! LOL)
I cut a decorative edge piece from red card stock using one of the decorative dies in the Window Box Elements Die from the Winter's Eve Collection and adhered it to the side of the second smaller tag. I then adhered the two tags together as shown!
I then set about to cutting hearts from the same die set used on the rosette. I cut a smaller one in red, a larger in white card stock and then layered with patterned paper and then a mid sized from the silver glitter card stock once again. I adhered them to the tag as shown!
I stamped the Love sentiment onto white card stock using black VersaFine Ink. I die cut using the coordinating die and then used a sponge to apply a dries clear glue to each letter. I dipped each letter into the Crystal Clear glitter to give it a chunky but sparkly look. I then adhered the word to the card as shown.
Then I set about to the task of creating the flowers. I stamped the smaller set of flowers from the Wildwood Florals Cling Stamp Set onto white paper using a grey VersaFine Ink. I then heat embossed them using a white embossing powder and my heat tool. I was hoping that the white embossing powder wouldn't take quite everywhere on the flowers so they had a bit of an aged look and matched the silver on the card...and it worked!
I then used my Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit and shaped each of the flowers, created the double blossoms as shown and inserted a white stamen into each flower.
You can find the stamen centers here!
I sealed the stamens into the flower centers from the back using hot glue and then adhered them to the tag using hot glue as well.
For the finishing touches I added a sentiment from the Heartfelt Paper Collection, giving it banner ends on both sides and inking it with a light pink ink around all the edges. A hint of washi tape and some silver pearls and the whole tag was complete!
Lastly, came the fun of creating some goodies to go into the pockets!
Here's what I came up with...
I made a smaller rosette and backed it by pleating up some ribbon in a circle!
So simple, but so pretty...this picture really doesn't do it justice!
I then used the Eyelet Hearts Die once again to layer the heart center. I've used pop dots to attach the glittered heart to the gold scalloped edge heart. A simple wooden skewer is hot glued to the back of the rosette so it can be used in an arrangement.
I then rummaged a little further in my stash and found a brand new package of small blank chalkboard signs. The first thing I thought of were the sentiment stamps in the Heartfelt Love Collection...and the Happy Valentine's Day stamp fit perfectly!
I stamped the image onto the sign with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed it using white embossing powder and my heat tool!
I headed back into my stash one more time and found some tiny little treat bags that fit some pretty paper clips I had purchased online for a great deal several years ago. I trimmed down one of the panels from the Heartfelt Love Paper Collection and adhered it to the front of the treat bag. I added some transparent glitter using a dries clear glue and voila...a little dressed up Valentine's treat bag!
I'll be taking a trip to the local dollar store to find a few more goodies to add to the envelope...I have some beautiful lace butterflies that I've already added into the package, as well as a lovely glittery pen, and am hoping to find some charming Valentine stickers and perhaps some cinnamon hearts or chocolate!
To finish off the package I'll create an envelope to adhere to the back of this stuffed envelope, and if time allows I'll create a card...or if not I'll just place my pen pal letter into the envelope on it's own!
I hope my new pen pal will love her stuffed envelope and all of the goodies!
And, I hope you've enjoyed today's share!
I wanted to show you that sometimes you have great foundations within your stash that you already own that you can alter with some gorgeous papers or even create your own embellishments for someone special to use!
I realize that since I don't have the full instructions for everything you may have a few questions should you try to replicate this project...please feel free to email me! My email address is listed on the side of my blog!
Be sure to hop on over to the Heartfelt Creations blog as well to see what the rest of the design team have created for your viewing pleasure this week!
Until next time...
